I have had the pleasure of owning a STR for about two years. Jag Racing green and a few mods, it gets lots of attention and is fun to drive. Especially so on local British car Club drives where I have twice the rumble and four times the hp of the usual MG, TR and even my own Lotus.
A few days ago I got the dreaded Check engine light. my local indie mechanic says the connections between the supercharger and the intake manifolds are leaking causing one bank to run lean.. He offers to remove the intakes and the sc, replacing the rubber, change the sc oil and install the coolent hose to the sc for about 3k.
With 104k, recent paint, tires and nice interior. All electrics are working well.. I am reluctant to sink another 3 k in a car that might bring 7k at trade if there are more issues ahead.
Anyone care to offer some recent experience or insight?
Phil in Tenn
03 STR
Mazda Speed Miata
73 Lotus Elan +2
several drivers

 

$3,000 for that work is ridiculously high. Your car has the 4.2, which I am not familiar with, but I've done the same work on my XJR 4.0 for one tenth of that money in parts.

Wait for more opinions, but that's far too much money, IMHO.

 

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I'll do it for half that! The gaskets he is talking about are the ones that are on the top that connect the s/c to the charge coolers. If memory serves me, the gaskets were 50-60 bux each, oh and guess what, you don't need to take the s/c off to change them

My guess is that it is not those gaskets though. I reused mine (even though they say not to) as they are beefy gaskets and most likely won't fail. You can check them yourself by spraying carb cleaner at them to see if the revs increase on the motor.

My guess for the leak is going to be the long plastic tube that goes from the back of the intake elbow, to the passenger side UFO (PCV). that is what was leaking on mine.

Not my best attempt, but this will give you an idea



Also, you can change the oil yourself, a few people have done it on the car With hose and I think syringes. I changed mine when I had my s/c off, which made it a lot easier.